Episode 148: When Conscience is On the Line: The Story of Dr. Marisol Quintanilla

What happens when the conviction of an individual Christian appears to conflict with the official position of her own church—and with the requirements of her employer?The story of Dr. Marisol Quintanilla at Michigan State University raises that question in a particularly compelling way when one's convictions clash with employer policies.During the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan State University required faculty, staff, and students to receive a COVID-19 vaccination or qualify for an exemption. Dr. Quintanilla, an agricultural scientist and Seventh-day Adventist, chose not to receive the vaccine and sought a religious accommodation.Her story is not simply about a vaccine.It is about conscience and conviction.It is about the boundary between institutional authority and individual faith.It is about whether a government, university, employer, or even a church should be able to determine what a person's conscience must believe.And ultimately, it raises a question that reaches far beyond COVID:Who has the right to govern the human conscience? Who Is Dr. Marisol Quintanilla?Dr. Marisol Quintanilla is an agricultural scientist specializing in plant-parasitic nematodes. She is a faculty member in Michigan State University's Department of Entomology and serves as an Extension nematologist.Her scientific work is focused on agricultural problems that directly affect farmers and crop production. She has conducted research involving potatoes, vegetables, soil health, and sustainable approaches to managing plant-parasitic nematodes.She earned her graduate degrees at Michigan State University and returned to MSU as an applied nematologist in 2017.This background is important.Quintanilla's story is not that of someone who rejected science or abandoned academic inquiry. She is herself a scientist working at a major research university.Her dispute with MSU concerned something different:whether the university could require her to violate what she believed was her religious conscience.She was born in Chile into an Seventh Day Adventist family. Her grandparents became Adventists through a German immigrant that escaped Nazi Germany to Chile because of being a conscientious objector.  He did not want to join the Nazi army. Her maternal grandfather became Adventist first and converted several members of his family, including his wife, some of his siblings, and also her paternal grandparents. She was raised in a Christ centered and Bible centered home and continued her life as a practicing Seventh Day Adventist. The COVID Mandate at Michigan State UniversityIn 2021, Michigan State University implemented a COVID-19 vaccination requirement.An August 20, 2021 communication to faculty and academic staff stated that vaccination was required, while providing pathways for certain exemptions.Among those exemptions was a religious exemption for an individual with a sincerely held religious belief or religious practice that prevented vaccination.But an exemption did not mean that an employee simply walked away from all COVID precautions.MSU required individuals receiving approved religious or medical exemptions to participate in its testing program. The university also imposed masking and other public-health requirements.The university policy had teeth.Employees who did not comply could face disciplinary action, potentially including termination.That meant the decision confronting Quintanilla was not merely theoretical.She faced a choice:Receive the vaccine—or ask her employer to recognize an exception based upon her religious conscience. Quintanilla's Decision- Staying True to Conscience and ConvictionsShe needed a bona fide religious exemption that supported her conscience and convictions, from her SDA church in Lansing, Michigan, to present to the MSU administration. Sadly she was refused one when she explained her situation.However, she did go to another SDA congregation in Berrien Springs, that supported religious liberty objections to the vaccine mandate.From an interview in Fulcrum7, January 31, 2023:“The Village Church at Berrien Springs was wonderful, as they had a program to help navigate through the process of obtaining religious exemptions.  They advocated for me and others.Her LETTER here.  (Marisol's Religious Exemption Letter)https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55e08bc8e4b0c71256a51904/t/63d93951122b234f499140f4/1675180370044/Marisol%27s+Religious+Exemption+Letter.pdfShe stated that her local church, conference, and the North American Division failed her and many others.  A statement (page no longer exists) on the General Conference website that was used to try to deny her and others their religious exemptions.  She attended a training meeting at MSU presented by a university physician, informing health professionals and administrators that most churches had compromised on the government mandates and agreed with mandatory vaccination of COVID19.  He said that the vaccine did not go against the all church’s teachings, therefore the religious exceptions were not valid.She communicated back to the administration that religious liberty laws in the US protect the individual regardless of the position their church officially may take.  Also, she reported that her local church pastor in Lansing, Michigan was unwilling to provide a letter supporting her choice. He said that the church organization officially decided pastors not to support religious exemptions, letting them know that it was up to individuals. No official church organization support could be given to those who had refused vaccination. She also recalls him saying “they did not want to waste bullets on religious liberty defense and advocacy at this time, as they were being saved for the Sunday law.She continued: The Lansing church and my pastor took an absolute pro-vaccine stand and did not support freedom.  They supported mandateshttps://adventist.news/news/reaffirming-the-seventh-day-adventist-churchs-response-to-covid-19-1and this was disappointing.  Our SDA church should support the individual’s liberty of conscience (religious freedom), medical freedom, and freedom of speech.Quintanilla chose not to receive the COVID vaccine.According to her own later account, her objection involved both her understanding of the medical circumstances surrounding COVID and, more importantly for the exemption, her religious convictions.She sought a religious exemption from MSU.And this is where the story becomes especially significant.Quintanilla explained that she obtained assistance from the Village Church in Berrien Springs, Michigan, in preparing a religious-exemption letter.She says she used the church's letter as a starting point but added substantial material of her own. Other religious liberty advocacy groups helped guide her through the vaccine exemption process.Quintanilla later stated that her letter was circulated among university administrators and that administrators had to read the arguments she had presented."The existence of that original document is important because it means this story is not merely based on a later recollection. There was a contemporaneous written statement explaining her position. A Crucial Distinction: The Church's Position vs. the Individual's ConscienceOne of the most interesting dimensions of Quintanilla's story is the relationship between her beliefs and the official position of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.The Seventh-day Adventist Church did not teach that COVID vaccination was forbidden.In fact, the church encouraged responsible vaccination while simultaneously emphasizing individual freedom of choice.The denomination's 2015 immunization statement says that Adventists have no religious or faith-based reason to discourage responsible participation in preventive immunization programs.During the COVID pandemic, the General Conference reaffirmed its support for responsible vaccination.Its October 27, 2021, statement said vaccination was a matter of personal choice and that vaccination was not a matter of salvation.It also rejected interpretations connecting COVID vaccination with the mark of the beast.At the same time, however, the church expressed reservations about using religious-liberty arguments to oppose public-health vaccination mandatesSend us your questions to be featured on the next podcast!Thank you for being part of the AskGod365 podcast community.We value you and appreciate greatly the time you are spending with us today.Please share your comments and questions at AskGod365.comListen. 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